Palin v. Biden: Dumb Is the New Smart!
According to Global Language Monitor, he's stupider than Sarah Palin
Sorry, Pete. Lost in the whirlwind of post-veep-debate spin was this irrefutable proof that Sarah Palin is smarter than Joe Biden. According to the Austin, Texas-based Global Language Monitor, in last Thursday's debate, Palin spoke at more than a ninth-grade level (9.5), while Biden spoke at nearly an eight-grade level (7.8).
Either that, or—as this post's title suggests—dumb is the new smart. I think I'm going with the latter.
Of course, before reading too much into the results, consider this: according to the language monitoring organization, which is to thoughtful insight what O.J. Simpson is to integrity, the following Palin sentence scored an 18.3 grade level! (I guess that's, like, midway through a Ph.D. or something.):
What I would do, also, if that were ever to happen, though, is to continue the good work he is so committed to of putting government back on the side of the people and get rid of the greed and corruption on Wall Street and in Washington.
Even Global Language Monitor president Paul Payack acknowledged that higher grade level doesn't necessarily mean better sentence: "When she said it, it sounded good, but on paper it's a completely different animal," Payack said. "It's like, what is that?"
The fact that Payack thought it even "sounded good" suggest he might be better suited for another line of work. We hear Metro Nashville Public Schools are hiring.
Comments
She is losing the election for McCain which is fine by me. No one is listening to his or her message but merely listening for the next Sarah gaffe for SNL. It's great political entertainment.
Posted 10/06/2008 at 06:59:56 PMGlobal Language Monitor needs to recalibrate their equipment. An extremely poorly worded sentence should get a 0. I've read several transcript's of Palin's interviews/talks. Some of the things she strings together are simply unintelligible.
I used to work in a large corporation. The email system was set up to tell you what grade level you were writing to. The corporate goal was grade 8.
Joe Biden actually did the right thing. Using clear, simple, small-word sentences does get the message across to the most people.
Your title "Dumb is the new smart", unfortunately, is true. I've been spending some time on the proMcCain boards simply to clarify positions that are clearly based in ignorance. But the overwhelming anti-education sentiment is scary. Though I'm a lefty, I do listen to/read the likes of George Will and David Brooks. At least they can put together a group of thoughts in a logical coherent manner. The vehemence by the republican "Joe6pack" against these two "intellectuals" is great.
I'm getting the feeling that the republican base's philosophy is: live under a rock, hang on to your bible, and hope for the best.
If you are interested, I've pasted my standard Obama/terrorist; Obama/unamerican post below. I simply post it in appropriate places on right leaning boards; sort of a Johnny Appleseed planting the seeds of doubt approach. Feel free to use it yourself.
I need some help here.
I travel around spreading support for McCain, but lately I'm getting asked some things that are difficult to answer:
1: McCain supporters understand that Obama is certainly guilty of associating with a known terrorist whose bad behaviour occurred BEFORE Obama was 8, even though the terrorist was never arrested, tried or convicted of anything and the work they did together was in trying to rebuild Chicago's inner city schools, but
they don't understand that John's support of and from Charles Keating WHILE Keating was committing fraud - that fleecing thousands of his customers and investors of their life savings - was not a bad thing at all. That even though Keating ended up as a CONVICTED FELON and John was investigated for trying to help his friend during the investigation and was censured by the senate for "exercising bad judgment", he was just showing support for a constituent, not obstructing justice.
I have to admit the hardest part is explaining why the upstanding republican philanthropist, Walter Annenberg financed the opportunity that brought Obama and Ayers together. They remember Bush's statement that those who finance terrorist activities are as dangerous as the terrorists themselves. How do you explain that a good friend of Ronald Regan's financed the activities of Ayers and Obama?
2. The other set of concerns has to do with the unamerican speeches by Rev. Wright. What supporters are asking is how this compares to John's actions in Vietnam. They don't understand that John's decision to cooperate with the Viet Cong - an enemy of the US - and, seemingly, betray his country and fellow soldiers,while a prisoner of war, is not at all unamerican. They are struggling to understand that John's "treasonous" cooperation with the enemy is far less important than Obama's pastor's speeches.
I think someone needs to have a press conference to clarify this confusing set of issues.
Posted 10/07/2008 at 10:42:40 AM